A midwife desperate to get home after ordering a takeaway curry told a woman waiting to give birth at Airedale Hospital to hurry up, a tribunal has been told.

Jeanette Matthews allegedly told the expectant mum: “If you don’t hurry up and have the baby I’m going to cut you.”

The midwife also told her that the labour ward was short staffed and that she did not want to be there, the Nursing and Midwifery Council heard.

Matthews was the allocated midwife for Patient A on the labour ward at the hospital in Steeton, near Keighley.

Greg Unwin, for the council, said: “A complaint was received from a patient or the patient’s mother in relation to the registrant’s conduct on February 20, 2011.

“Patient A was admitted to Airedale General Hospital on February 19 and delivered her baby during the night shift of the early hours of the February 20.

“The registrant was her allocated midwife.

“It is said that the registrant was rude in her conduct, that she inappropriately asked Patient A to stop using pain relief and that she had the patient in the lithotomy position.

“Which is when the mother’s legs are placed in stirrups without providing any proper explanation or obtaining any consent.

“As a result of that complaint the matter was investigated by Sarah Bennett – investigating supervisor of midwives.

“Miss Bennett interviewed the registrant about the incident and the registrant denied that she had told the patient to stop using her pain relief.

“She did admit that on occasion she would sometimes say to mothers that she might have to give them a little cut in order to encourage them to push harder”

Matthews also claimed she had obtained proper consent before putting the patient into the lithotomy position, the panel heard.

Matthews qualified as a nurse in 1987 and later qualified as a midwife in 2002.

The hearing continues.